Tuesday, October 27, 2015

I want my baby back, baby back, baby back...NOW! Quick Ribs

We've all been there, it's Sunday afternoon and talk about what to make for dinner begins. You want something easy, tasty and filling. Ribs sound good, but those take 6 hours of low-n-slow cooking and you don't want to eat at 10PM, need to focus on Homeland. Here you go, a quick and easy recipe for tender, moist, and savory ribs.

They key to this method is a lot of heat to kick start the cook and then dialing it back to a lower temp to finish them off. I cook mine on a pellet grill using apple wood, but you can do this on your gas grill by making a wood chip packet or in your oven without the smoke. You'll lose a little of that barbecue smoke flavor but they'll still be quite satisfying.

What you'll need...
1 rack of Baby Back Ribs per couple
BBQ Rub - Makes 1-1/2 cups, you can store in an airtight container indefinitely

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon coarsely ground pepper

BBQ Sauce

Start your grill and get it up to 450 degrees, set it up for indirect cooking**

While the grill is warming up begin prepping your rib rack by rinsing with cold water, then pat dry with paper towels.

Remove the membrane on the back side of the ribs. Use a knife to get it started at one end then use a paper towel to grip and then pull the remaining membrane off the rack. We do this so that the rub can get down on the meat.

Trim any excess fat from the top side of the ribs and apply the rub to both sides of the rack. While it's called "rub" we don't actually rub it in, just sprinkle it on so both sides are coated, but not so much that you can't see the meat.

Put the rack on the grill, meaty side up. I also place a water pan on the grill, in this case a loaf pan, this adds moisture to the cooking environment so the meat doesn't dry out.

After 15 minutes on high heat turn the temperature down to 250 and let them cook. After 2 hours apply your sauce with a squeeze bottle or brush. Then wrap them in heavy duty foil and return to the grill. Add more sauce in 15 minutes.and pull off the grill in 30.

Slice into individual ribs (an electric knife works well for this).

And serve!

**Indirect Cooking - if you're using a grill you'll want your heat source on one side of the grill and your cooking area on the other side. To do this turn on one side of your burners, this will be your heat source, the opposite side, with the burners off will be where you cook your meat. If using a charcoal grill you place your hot coals on one side of the kettle and cook on the other. You'll be creating an "outdoor convection oven" with this method where the indirect convection heat will cook your food rather than the direct, radient heat which will result in a much more even cook.